A County Tyrone hardware and drapery shop has closed its doors after more than 100 years in business.
The Kyle family of Fivemiletown opened WJ Kyle in Castlederg in 1902.
Despite huge advances in technology over the years, not much has changed in the business.
There was never a cash register or ticket machine, the same gas lamps have been used since the 1970s.
“There’s just no other store like this,” said Karen Jack.
Her mother, Margaret Jack, née Kyle, ran the shop for years.
Karen and her brother Brian worked there until it closed on Friday.
“There’s a lot of history going back—my mom lived her whole life here,” Karen said.
“I can remember my grandfather, he always sat in the office in the curtain and did the books.
“It was a much bigger deal at that point. There would have been two staff working in the hardware and two in the curtains.
“It has always been a shop visited and used by everyone in the community.”
Brian says the store felt like a “throw back in time,” adding that it’s “always been very traditional.”
Karen added, “My mom was of that generation that didn’t see the need to move with the times or change anything.”
Although a lot of things in the store haven’t changed much, quite a few things have changed.
Brian said that during the riots, bombs smashed windows in the store 16 times.
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“I remember being at the back (of the store) and there were so many bombs I knew the order,” he said.
“You had the fire siren, the police called and I saw the cop come in and I knew something was happening.
“We didn’t have time to get out, so we had to put it on what used to be grass seed balls in the back of the store, and the thing went off.
“I remember the shock wave came through. I remember everything shattered because there used to be rows of tea sets on the windows and every bomb that smashed the windows and smashed all the china on the windows.”
For sisters Hazel Burke and Iris Baxter, coming to the store has been something since they were little.
“We always came to Kyle’s to get anything you wanted — you can’t get it anywhere else, you get it at Kyle’s,” Hazel said.
“The store hasn’t changed since I was a kid, it’s still the same, same decor, everything.”
Mick Harkin’s wife Ann worked in the shop for 44 years before it closed.
“I’m very sad it’s closing, I would have bought a lot of fishing stuff here in my younger days,” he said, adding that it would be impossible to get what he needed now without leaving town.
Jean Bogle said closing the store was “the end of an era”.
“I’ve always come in and been able to get things I needed,” she said.
“It’s getting harder because there’s nothing like it anywhere else in Castlederg.”
Former Councilor James Emery has co-written three books on Castlederg and its history.
He said Kyle’s is one of the oldest shops in Castlederg and an important part of town.
He added that the Kyle family are also auctioneers, selling houses and land.
In 1937 the shop was destroyed in a Christmas Day fire, described by the Strabane Weekly newspaper as “one of the worst fires in County Tyrone”.
In 1938 it had to be rebuilt.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the counter that’s still there, dating from 1938, which you wouldn’t find in the modern stores – it’s completely changed,” he added.
“Someone once said, ‘If Kyle’s doesn’t have it, you don’t need it’.
“It’s a big loss, people have to go to either Strabane or Omagh.”
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